


Hot Chocolate

by wisegirl32



Series: Streaks of Gray and Other Losses [2]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Camp Half-Blood (Percy Jackson), Camp Jupiter (Percy Jackson), Canon Compliant, F/M, Flashbacks, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hot Chocolate, Insecure Jason Grace, Jason Grace Needs a Hug, Jason's still regaining memories, Jason’s under a lot of pressure, Light Angst, One Shot, Percy is still missing, Piper McLean is a Good Girlfriend, Post-The Lost Hero (Heroes of Olympus), Pre-The Mark of Athena (Heroes of Olympus), Reyna loved New Rome’s Hot Chocolate, a lot of sweet moments okay, and I think Jason did too, and I’m sad about it, but we don’t need to talk about that, i don’t know how to tag, if I don’t read it it didn’t happen, in this house we don’t slander Jason Grace, like they’re all going through it but they help each other, so sorry we don’t hear from him (again), this is also kind of a mess but here we are, yes I know about TBM despite not having read TOA
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-14 04:41:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29786628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wisegirl32/pseuds/wisegirl32
Summary: If you were cold, you warmed yourself up, even if your strategy for doing so was as indulgent as a morning hot chocolate. Even if it didn't taste the same.Or it was easier to call Camp Half-Blood home when Jason didn’t remember any other. Though, he supposed, the same could be said of Camp Jupiter.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase & Piper McLean, Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Jasiper - Relationship, Jason Grace & Leo Valdez, Jason Grace & Piper McLean, Jason Grace & Piper McLean & Leo Valdez, Jason Grace & Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano, Jason Grace/Piper McLean, Jiper - Relationship, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Rachel Elizabeth Dare & Piper McLean, jasper - Relationship
Series: Streaks of Gray and Other Losses [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2189421
Kudos: 10





	Hot Chocolate

**Author's Note:**

> Hello again everyone!! First of all, thank you so much to everyone who read and responded to “Streaks of Gray”; writing about these characters has become a passion project for me of late, and seeing your kudos and comments has been extremely rewarding. As I thought more about the period before the Argo II set sail, I realized I had a lot more characters I wanted to explore, continuing on with our favorite golden boy, Jason Grace himself.
> 
> Part of growing up for me has meant figuring out that I am actually more similar to Jason Grace than Annabeth Chase, as much as I adore her. So, it was only fitting that he be the next perspective in my series of one shots, “Streaks of Gray and Other Losses”. I’m not going to commit to a release schedule, because school is crazy and I don’t know how quickly I’ll be able to write with everything else happening right now. Still, I hope you enjoy this piece, and please feel free to leave any feedback!!
> 
> Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction using characters from the world of Percy Jackson and the Olympians and Heroes of Olympus series, which are trademarked by Rick Riordan. I do not own these characters or this world; they were created by Rick Riordan.

“Hot chocolate,” Jason said to himself, as he clutched the magical goblet in the dining pavilion. The rich liquid appeared in his goblet, the steam rising into the morning sky.

There always seemed to be a chill settling over Cabin One’s table in the pavilion. As he let the bittersweet liquid warm down his throat, Jason sighed, realizing that it once again did not taste familiar.

Even as he continued to remember more and more, Jason still didn’t feel entirely at ease. Training in the arena could only distract him so much, as much as he found sparring the way other campers do to be more freeing than his own training. He was only responsible for the way he fought, especially when he was practicing on the training dummies, when no one else could get hurt or avoid him out of intimidation. He wondered how Thalia had dealt with it during her own time at camp. Then again, she wasn’t the only child of the Big Three who had been there at the time.

Jason hated thinking about this. He didn’t remember everything about his family, had essentially no memories of his own parentage. Even before Hera stole his memories, he realized. His mortal parent, namely the fact that his father had two children with her, led to his being left at the Wolf House, cold and likely crying until he was taught that both were signs of weakness. If you were cold, you warmed yourself up, even if your strategy for doing so was as indulgent as a morning hot chocolate. 

It was silly for him to anticipate that it would be different from any other day, to wonder whether it would taste like the café’s where Jason had gone for years. He tried everything he could think of when he first tested out the goblets, asking for dark hot chocolate, or trying to guess what else New Rome had added to it. Not that he was entirely sure he would remember enough to describe what that had tasted like. His memories had been coming back in pieces, of course. That was how he remembered how much he liked hot chocolate before. It’s how he knew he had been close to Reyna, had gone on quests with her, had worked with her for a time. He knew she had enjoyed the hot chocolate as well, that they often would each get a cup before Senate meetings. 

Jason sighed as he stared into drink in his hands. Maybe the magical goblets weren’t let in on the Romans’ existence either? Eventually, Jason gave up adding any additional stipulations, admitting that it likely wouldn’t be the same as the hot chocolate from the small spot in New Rome. He wondered if that would be what his nectar would taste like; he had only had ambrosia a few times since his arrival at camp, and didn’t remember what it had tasted like to him before. Even though Camp Half-Blood’s climate was magically controlled, making the morning seem more mild than if they were exposed to the elements of New York, hot chocolate wasn’t that unusual a choice for a brisk February morning. Still, it wouldn’t do to dwell on how the two beverages compared, when it seemed inevitable now that the camps would be coming together. 

Leo would probably tease him for his contemplations, if he were sitting with Jason now. He drank black coffee in the mornings, which, if you asked Jason, was one of the last things Leo needed. If Leo didn’t command his own goblet, Jason would have switched him to decaf weeks ago. Still, the bags he saw under Leo’s eyes when they last saw each other, darkened since they had returned from their quest, was not lost on him.

He hadn’t seen Leo much at all this week, Jason realized; he spent most of the time he wasn’t working on the Argo II with his siblings, now that he was head counselor of Cabin 9. Since Leo had been fulfilling most of his counselor responsibilities, when he was often in Bunker 9, Jason only really saw him when they met to receive updates on the construction of the Argo II and the search for New Rome. Jason, on the other hand, was a counselor of one, who had no major construction projects underway. 

But Jason didn’t have time to sit and contemplate how others might scrutinize his choice of morning beverage, or his hesitations about it. Chiron was expecting him in the Big House, and Jason knew better than to be late.

He passed Annabeth on his way to the porch, not noticing much more than the bags under her eyes as she raced past him, dropping her arm from where she had been playing with a piece of her hair. He turned his attention back to the Big House, trying to shake the memories of the times she would stare at him like he was a puzzle she could solve. He suspected she had always had that studying gaze, even as a child on the run with a sister Jason never knew he had. 

He didn’t blame Annabeth for her wariness, for not trusting him; he’s not sure how he would have felt if their positions were reversed. Besides, it wasn’t just Annabeth who regarded him with suspicion. Most kids acted like Jason would either save or destroy them, just another side effect of his status as a child of the Big Three. Either way, he knew some of the older campers hated what he represented, that he was the so-called “replacement” for Percy Jackson, who was apparently the Greek version of, well, him.

Jason still didn’t know much about the guy. It wasn’t like he had many people willing to share stories about Percy with him. Chiron advised Jason to focus on his own training, only giving a sad smile when Jason had asked about him. Asking Annabeth was essentially out of the question, though he had learned a few things from what Annabeth told Piper. She often let Annabeth reminisce about her adventures with Percy when Piper sparred with her. He wondered how others would describe his own adventures, both those remembered and those he was still unable to recall.  
_____________________________

Chiron was examining a photograph frame delicately placed on the pingpong table as Jason entered the room where Camp Half-Blood made all of their strategic decisions. As Jason entered to stand beside him, he caught a glimpse of the two figures in the photo: a boy with a lopsided grin and raven-black hair, wrapping his arm around the girl with a curly blond ponytail and orange camp T-shirt. They looked to be about thirteen, Jason figured, and if it weren’t for the dagger placed at the girl’s side, he could almost imagine they were normal kids at a normal summer camp.

It wasn’t the first time he had seen a photo of who he concluded was Percy Jackson. Annabeth must have put it there. She was likely working there before Jason saw her on his own way here. He understood why Annabeth liked that picture. It likely reminded her of somewhat simpler times.

“Thank you for coming,” Chiron said, suddenly snapping himself out of the wistful expression that had marked his features. “I wanted to speak with you about how the recovery of your memories has progressed, so that we can discuss strategies to continue moving forward.” 

Jason gave a small nod as he took a seat at the ping pong table. He began by listing off the additional bits and pieces he had remembered at various points over the past week: landmarks he remembered seeing whenever he went on a quest, his best recollections of the buildings and way of life there. He showed Chiron the sketches he had been doing with the hopes they would inspire regained memories of buildings and faces previously forgotten. Chiron, in turn, nodded along as Jason shared what he could remember from each image. When Jason was finished, he clutched the closed leather book in his hand like a lifeline.

“There is one more matter we should discuss before we meet again with the others.” Chiron paused as he walked over to a trunk Jason did not notice before. “The nature of the Argo II itself will not exactly make your Roman colleagues conducive to trusting us. It would be wise to remind them of your rank as you approach, use your connection as an ability to build a rapport.” He pulled out a pile of fabric buried underneath the other trinkets and linen packed away in the trunk, likely collected over the course of several decades. A toga, and a flash of purple. The cape of a praetor.

“This should suffice,” he said grimly. “When the time comes for you to leave.” 

Jason nodded as Chiron handed him the toga and cape, the dusty cloth still feeling familiar in his hands. He understood what Chiron meant. He would need to be Jason Grace, Praetor of the Twelfth Legion, if the plan to unite the two camps was going to go anywhere. He wasn’t sure how his old comrades would take to a flash of orange appearing underneath his praetor uniform. He would need to return as the leader they remembered. Failure would not be an option. 

He wondered where Chiron had gotten the uniform. His mind quickly provided the answers as Jason remembered two things: one, that Chiron was immortal, had dealt with centuries of heroes, and two, that the Greek and Roman camps had in fact met before. Except every time so far had ended in war.

“Cabin inspection will be starting soon,” Chiron suggested when Jason continued to stand there, pulling Jason from his thoughts. “I won’t keep you any longer so that you may prepare.”  
__________________________________

Jason didn’t want to go back to that cabin. He didn’t want to go anywhere. He suddenly felt like he didn’t belong here, wanted to control the winds and fly out of range of any meddling goddesses, his patron or not. But he had a job to do. The only difference was that now there were two camps relying on him. But even if he hadn’t learned his sense of responsibility in his life before, he had certainly affirmed it on his quest weeks ago.

Jason considered that thought for a moment. His life before, as if it was somehow separate from his life now. There were good things about that life. The stability, the knowledge that you were part of a cohort. Even then, however, Jason couldn’t escape the nature of his parentage. There was always someone looking to him for answers, even before he was made praetor. Despite his parentage, and any ambitions others may have had for him, he still had to prove himself in battle, of course. 

Maybe he could find a semblance of that stability again, in this fated group of seven. He wondered if he knew the Roman demigods that would complete their group, wondered if Reyna was one of them. She was always wholly and completely Roman, and one of the strongest people he knew. If Juno’s goal was to unite the gods’ Greek and Roman children to form this team of half-bloods, Jason couldn’t think of anyone better than Reyna to represent the Roman interest.

Reyna. The one friend he had always gotten hot chocolate with, even before they both had early senate meetings to attend. His best friend, who had laughed at him as he burnt his mouth on the hot liquid the first time they got it together, almost giving himself another embarrassing scar. He resolved not to tell her the story of how he actually got the crescent marring his upper lip, a tale he had learned from a sister who thought he was dead. 

He had watched most of Camp Half-Blood worry about Percy Jackson from the moment he arrived. He had been missing for about three days at that point, but they had begun to mobilize search parties in flying chariots, knowing that Percy would not willingly leave without so much as a trace.

It was different in New Rome. They likely could not divert many resources to search for any individual when they needed legion members to protect the camp. Jason wasn’t even sure he would want them to, if it would put the rest of the camp at risk. They likely trusted that he could handle himself, and Jason supposed he could. He would just have to search for Camp Jupiter from his end.  
___________________________

The other campers were friendly enough to Jason as he walked back to his cabin, subconsciously fixing his posture as he fiddled with the coin in his pocket. He left his jacket on as he entered the frigid cabin, his current home due to the circumstances of his birth.

But he was a son of Jupiter. He felt like something of an imposter in the cabin meant for the progeny of his father’s Greek aspect. His birth would always define him in some way, always had as people looked to him to fulfill a leadership role. He tried to picture his bunk in the barracks at Camp Jupiter, the small space he had to call his own before, which had been ripped away from him as well. Jason struggled to find himself feeling “at home” in the vastness of Zeus’s cabin, never felt like it was quite his to live in.

Piper had helped, though. After peering in the doorway and having the statue of Zeus glare at her one too many times, she had appeared one morning, a pile of purple and gold trinkets in her arms. She had teasingly assured him that no, she hadn’t used her charmspeak to acquire any of it, as she set the items on an empty chair she had dragged in a few days before and pulled out a roll of tape from the Big House. 

From there, Jason handed her pieces of tape as she asked him which things he wanted to hang up and where. Nothing too impractical, but enough to add some color to the otherwise blank marble walls. A royal purple blanket covering the cot Jason had turned away from his father’s statue. A poster with a golden lightning bolt she had taped slightly crookedly to the wall. A photograph of them Leo had taken at the campfire one night, just before he hopped up to join the Apollo kids in their sing-along. The two of them laughing and smiling as their friend (who had many talents, but was not an especially gifted singer by any means,) scream-sang the lyrics to whatever pop song the younger Apollo children had been obsessed with that week. 

As he stared at the photograph, Jason recalled that he hadn’t said much at the campfire the night before, lost in his own thoughts, and Piper seemed to notice. He simply gave her a small smile and a nod as she turned to look up at him. He promised himself he would apologize in the morning, but he hadn’t had a chance to see her all day. Once he took a minute to think, Jason decided, he would go talk to Piper.

Piper beat him to it, however, as she stepped into the doorway of Cabin One, pulling Jason from his thoughts once again. “Hey,” she said tentatively, though Jason didn’t miss the moment where she looked uneasily at the statue of Zeus glaring down at them. 

“Are you here to check on me or inspect my cabin?” Jason sighed, his response coming off more curt than he intended.

“Both?” Piper confessed, a concerned smile playing across her face. “But mostly to check on you.” She set down her clipboard, taking a seat on an empty chair she had brought in that faced his cot. That was another thing about this cabin, Jason thought. They didn’t even have actual bunks, nothing to invoke a permanent connection to the place children of Zeus were supposed to consider home. He would have to put that thought aside for now, however. 

“I’m sorry,” Jason said almost immediately as he turned towards her. “For that outburst and for how I’ve been acting the past few days.”

“You making a single biting remark hardly counts as an outburst, Grace. No need to apologize. Besides, hanging out with Annabeth has effectively inoculated me against almost anything you could come up with,” Piper teased. 

“How is she doing?” Jason asked, taking a seat on his cot. If him asking Annabeth that question himself wasn’t the best idea, checking in with Piper seemed like a good way to show his concern. 

“I’m honestly not sure sometimes. I can’t imagine what she is going through, but I think our sparring together is helping, at least a little bit.” Piper confessed. She got up to do a quick scan of the room, writing things down on her clipboard as she went through her usual cabin inspection routine. “It doesn’t hurt to get to know her better before we all board the Argo II. I think the fact that you’re getting your memories back is helping her, too.”

“Right,” Jason sighed. He didn’t say more when Piper asked how he was doing.

“You just… you seemed a bit lost in your head? I thought I would give you some space, at least until I saw you for cabin inspection.” Piper admitted when he didn’t respond, adding a final scrawl to the clipboard. “You passed, by the way,” Piper continued, returning to the chair across from Jason’s cot. “There’s still something missing though, so I may need to dock a few points,” her voice taking on a slight teasing tone.

“What did I miss?” Jason looked up, confused. He mentally ran through the checklist of the necessary steps required for a passed cabin inspection. After joining Piper as she completed her cabin inspections to complete his responsibilities, he thought he had done everything he needed. It was only once Piper returned to her seat that he noticed the package placed at her side. 

“I went to see Rachel for something. That’s part of why I’ve been hard to find all week; she’s back at camp over break” Piper explained when he gave her a quizzical look, handing him the quickly-wrapped parcel the size of a laptop as she took a seat beside him. He smiled at the glittery wrapping paper, a touch she had likely gotten from one of her cabin mates. Before opening it, however, he noticed something taped to the back of the package. 

A sketch in light pencil he had torn out and crumpled in a brief moment of frustration. It was one of the first places he had drawn weeks ago in the hopes it would help him regain more of his memories. Someone had carefully smoothed out the edges, and under the wrinkles that now marked the page Jason could still make out the lines of some buildings from his past. Temples, he thought, dotting along a path leading up the tall hillside. He had tossed away the sketch before he could add many details.

He looked up at Piper, confused. Piper only winked, gesturing for him to open the package. He peeled off the sketch carefully, then tore the wrapping along the seams to reveal a canvas that brought life and color to the details of the sketch. Jason stared at the painting. The colors, the shading, it was… perfect. It was almost like staring at a photograph, bringing him back to when another photograph made him remember the sister he never knew.

He turned towards Piper, only to find her staring at him with a small smile on her face. A strand of her choppy brown hair fell into her face as she leaned forward to look at him. As Jason reached out to tuck it behind her ear, his hand came to rest on her cheek as he leaned in to kiss her. He poured all of his gratitude into kissing her, for her kindness and the painting that was a physical embodiment of it, and not even examining the details it captured could distract him as he felt her lips on his.

“How… how did you do this?” he whispered as he pulled away, keeping his head leaning towards her as his hand lingered on her cheek. 

“It was Rachel, mostly. She didn’t exactly have a vision like her other experiences with the Oracle, but she mentioned being able to draw things she had never seen before back before she became the Oracle” Piper clarified, taking a seat next to Jason. “She just said she just kind of knew what colors were right to use. I’m not a great artist, but I tried to help as much as I could.” 

“You’re also the one who thought of it in the first place,” Jason smiled. “You don’t give yourself enough credit, Pipes,” he added, as Piper gave him a small smile. This time, she leaned in to kiss him.

“So that’s New Rome?” Piper asked, turning up to look at him as Jason rested his arm around her shoulders.

Jason nodded, his eyes returning to the canvas in his lap. “Part of it, anyway. I can’t wait for you to see it.” I can’t believe I’m going back, he thought to himself.

Piper sighed as she leaned into him, her head resting on Jason’s shoulder where he couldn’t quite read her expression. Jason leaned his head towards her in return as he continued to examine the painting, his past trickling back to him as he sat in the present.  
______________________________________

Sitting alone at the Cabin One table didn’t bother Jason as much the next day. Not to say that all his worries were gone instantaneously, but as he surveyed his surroundings from the corner of the pavilion, he allowed himself to forget– if only for a moment– that they would soon need to prepare for war. 

Leo sat surrounded by his siblings, cracking his usual jokes as he spilled his coffee on one of the blueprints in front of him. Now that construction of the Argo II was picking up, Jason was meeting Leo in Bunker Nine after breakfast, to go over details as he altered the blueprints of the cabins for each of the seven, looking for suggestions to make the space feel as comfortable as possible. 

Jason would definitely ask for Piper’s opinion as well. He was willing to bet her advice would make his sleeping quarters feel a lot more like home. A few more months would pass before he added a few possessions to his now-constructed cabin: a purple blanket, a praetor’s uniform, a painting of what he knew to be New Rome. A photograph with his girlfriend, the label supplied by the Mist becoming true over the time since Jason found himself placed on a bus from the Wilderness School. 

“Hot chocolate,” he spoke into his goblet, feeling it warm in his hands as his drink magically appeared. He knew it wouldn’t be the same as he tentatively brought it to his lips. Not being the same didn’t mean it wouldn’t taste good, though. 

The scar on his lip curved up as Jason took a sip of the warm liquid. When you’re cold, you find a way to warm yourself up. But this warmth felt less searing, less like a brand than a deep purple blanket. Besides, the chocolate seemed a bit less bitter today.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!! Once again, please feel free to leave any feedback or suggestions, as I would love to hear what you all think!! I hope you enjoyed this story!!
> 
> I’m not sure exactly when I will be able to post again. I plan to focus on a different character in each piece, and have some aspects of each piece planned already, but if there is anything you want to see, please let me know!! Again, I hope you enjoyed!!


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